The morning sun shone its rays through the trees, melting away pieces of fallen snow from the weathered branches. It was a mere eight degrees outside, and I was en route to my office. My thoughts turned to the conversation I had with Marty the night before. The skier he spoke of had died instantly, running chest-first into a tree. To make matters worse, Marty knew her. Not in an intimate way, but enough to regard her as a friend. She was a local and an experienced skier, which didn’t make much sense. A tree should have been easy for her to avoid. A married couple found her motionless body beneath the tree and called Ski Patrol. But when Patrol reached her, she wasn’t breathing. CPR was administered, but it was too late.
I switched gears and thought about Nick. He wanted an all-access pass into my life, but I knew how it would change things. We’d move in together, he’d push for marriage, and then what, babies? Of course he wanted babies, but how many, and what if I couldn’t provide them?
I parked in my usual spot and noted the temperature on the console of my dash. Nine whole degrees, yippee. I fumbled with my keys until I found the one to my office and eyeballed Lord Berkeley.
“Come on then,” I said, reaching out for him.
Boo didn’t move. He looked out the window, back at me, and out the window again.
“Oh, it’s not so bad,” I said. “Come on, we’ll hurry. Promise.”
I snatched him up and made a mad dash for the door. Once inside, I stripped the outer layer off my body. With no appointments for the day, walking around the office in my bare feet seemed like a wise choice. I squished my toes into the thick, shag rug in the center of the room and breathed in the warmth of my office, all seventy-six degrees of it, but it still wasn’t warm enough. I walked over to the thermostat and cranked it up a couple more notches.
At my desk, I pressed play on the message machine. The first two messages were solicitations. A male caller reminded me I needed to take some time to consider advertising in the local phone book again. I deleted it. The second caller was a female who had a great opportunity for me. I deleted it and went to the last message.
“Hi,” the caller said, “my name is Audrey Halliwell. I’m trying to reach Sloane Monroe. If you could please return my call, I would appreciate it.”
I jotted down her name and number, picked up the phone, and dialed.
“Hello?” the voice on the other end said.
“This is Sloane Monroe. Is this Audrey?”
“Thanks for getting back to me so fast,” she said.
“No problem, what can I do for you?”
“I got your number from Mr. Langston. I’d like to hire you, but I don’t want to discuss it over the phone if you don’t mind.”
“Why don’t you stop by my office and we can talk?”
“Great,” she said. “Would today work?”
“Is two o’clock all right?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect, see you then.”